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1 Jan 2014

Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God - Jan 1st

"And they went with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they saw it they made known the saying which had been told them concerning this child; and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb". - Luke 2: 16-211 January, the octave day of the Nativity of the Lord, is the Solemnity of Mary, the holy Mother of God, and also the commemoration of the conferral of the Most Holy Name of Jesus.

You can find out more about the feast day HERE,HERE,HERE and HERE.From Vatican Radio:

Pope Francis welcomed the new year Wednesday with a solemn morning mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, calling the faithful to look to Mary as a Mother to all and messenger of hope.In his homily for this, the Solemnity of the Mother of God, Pope Francis said “there is no more meaningful time than the beginning of a new year” to hear God’s blessing “The Lord bless you and keep you…. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”

These "words of strength, courage and hope" "will accompany our journey through the year opening up before us,” the Pope said.

But, the Pope warned, this is not “an illusory hope based on human frail promises, or a naïve hope which presumes that the future will be better simply because it is the future.” Rather, he reminded the faithful, it is a hope based on God’s blessing, containing the “greatest message of good wishes there can be and this is the message which the Church brings to each of us.”

The message of hope in God’s blessing, the Pope stressed, “was fully realized in a woman, Mary, who was destined to become the Mother of God.”“Mother of God is the first and most important title of Our Lady,” Pope Francis said, noting that in their devotion to her from early times, the faithful had understood this “from the beginning.”

Pope Francis recalled the ancient Council of Ephesus which “authoritatively defined” the divine motherhood of the Virgin Mary and later “the first Marian shrine in Rome and the entire West” which was erected in devotion to her in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major.

Mary is our Mother too, the Pope reminded us, “ever since Jesus, dying on the Cross, gave her to us as our Mother, saying ‘Behold your Mother!’”

Through the most difficult and trying times, Mary’s “sorrowing heart was enlarged to make room for all men and women, whether good or bad,” the Pope said, and she communicates “her maternal affection to each and every person… a source of hope and true joy.”

Inviting the faithful to entrust to her “the journey of faith, the desires of our heart, our needs and the needs of the whole world, especially of those who hunger and thirst for justice and peace," Pope Francis said by Mary’s “example of humility and openness to God’s will she helps us to transmit our faith in a joyful proclamation of the Gospel to all, without reservation.” And turning towards the statue of Our Lady near the high altar, Pope Francis invoked her three times, repeating forcefully: “Holy Mother of God!”

Links to reflections on the feast day:Word on Fire - The Mystery of Mary, Mother of God - What lesson can be discerned in the revelation that the Blessed Virgin Mary is the Mother of God? Father Steve Grunow offers his homily as a means to discern how the Incarnation of God in Christ is treasured in the heart of the Church on not only New Year's Day, but every day of the year.All Along the Watchtower - Today is the solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God. In her honour, I would like to post some lines from chapter 4 of the Blessed John Henry Newman’s Development of Christian Doctrine

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Prayer before reading and reflecting on Scripture

Lord, we thank you for putting us in the presence of your Word which you inspired in your prophets. May we approach this Word reverently, humbly and attentively. May we not despise this Word, but receive all it has to say to us. We know that our hearts are closed, often incapable of comprehending the simplicity of your Word. Send your Spirit to us so that receiving the Word in truth and simplicity, our lives may be transformed by it.
Let us not be resistant, Lord; may your Word penetrate us like a two edged sword; may our hearts be open to it; let not our eyes be closed, nor our minds wander, but may we give ourselves entirely to this listening. We ask this Father, in union with Mary who used to recite the psalms, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

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